Maximizing Mars vibe is one of the most effective astrological moves you can make. And it’s especially vital for times like this, when Mars is about to be in just two signs (Cancer + Leo) for the next ten months.
For perspective, Mars usually spends eight weeks in each sign so this is a super-concentrated focus in a relatively tight zone of the zodiac ecliptic. (Scroll down for dates and data.)
These lengthy stays of Mars in one sign or sector occur more or less every two years – you may recall the deluxe length Mars in Gemini (2022) and Mars in Aries (2020) phases.
They occur via Mars Retrograde, a phenom that comes with it’s own set of protocols but which basically amounts to “don’t initiate a fight.”
It’s frustrating when you’re justified and probably should let fly but the good news is that if someone else starts the war during Mars Retro, they’ll lose or withdraw/negotiate to avoid having to concede defeat.
But even aside from the extreme, beamed-in martial focus on one tiny sector of your birth chart and general Mars Retro considerations, the primary impact of these bi-annual Mars junkets is this: they ensure that Mars aspects to other planets or points will occur not just once but three times over a period of months.
So, for example, a simple Mars conjunct Jupiter transit that could normally inspire as flurry of “must get fit” resolutions or some jumped up gym action, becomes training for a marathon.
Less attractively, a Mars square that would usually be a transient storm of discontent or an acerbic yet clarifying confrontation can escalate and become its own little soap-operatic mini-series.
You see, the current Mars influences suggest the strategies that align with the times. Your natal Mars reflects your personal strategic style – those phases when momentum seems to flow and you’re pushing ahead without crazy resistance are often when your Mars and the current Mars are in sync.
But even officially difficult Mars transits can lead to massive accomplishments because they compel you to drop assumptions. Taking nothing for granted, you start afresh and update your tactics.
Your Horoscopes – Monthly, Weekly and Daily – will be across the most likely Mars impacts and opportunities for your sign/rising sign/unique natal chart but broadly, think about this:
Mars will be moving between the signs of the Moon and the Sun, alternating between a zodiac sign renowned for canny, calculated tactical genius and one more known for performance and chutzpah.
If you apply this to the pursuit of your ambitions, you can see how it would be good to make security-consolidating, buffering maneuvers during the Cancerian Mars phase and reserve overt, attention-drawing stunts – or launches that you want to attract publicity – for Mars in Leo.
If you’re not involved in litigation, a literal battle or an incredibly confrontational career, the shadowzones are probably not worth observing. If you are, however, a geopolitical observer, they’re always relevant.
Warring parties often signal their true intent at the start of the shadowzone, give off false indicators around the time Mars goes Retro and act as they always intended shortly after Mars turns Direct.
Cancerian and Leo themed industries or professions could become more militant – midwives, nurses, birthing politics in general and for Leo, the performing arts – already mobilized via initiatives like Credo 23.
Similarly, if you’re Cancer or Leo – especially those of you born between July 9 and 29, make ready to Mars up!
MARS DATES + DATA
Mars into Cancer: September 4 at 19:46 Universal Time
Mars reaches shadowzone: October 7 2025 (ie: the point at which it will later turn Direct)
Mars into Leo: November 4 at 4:09 Universal Time
Mars Retrograde @6° Leo on December 6 at 23:33 Universal Time
Mars moves back into Cancer on January 6 at 10:44 Universal Time
Mars Direct @17° Cancer on Feb 24 at 1:59 Universal Time
Mars moves into Leo again on April 18 at 4:20 Universal Time
Mars leaves shadowzone: May 5 2025 (ie: the point at which it initially turned Retrograde)
Mars leaves Leo & moves into Virgo: June 17 2025.
The zodiac degrees most influenced: 17° Cancer to 6° Leo.
The birthdays most influenced: July 9 to 29.
All up, between early September 2024 and mid-June 2025, Mars will spend just under 18 weeks in Leo and 23 weeks in Cancer.
There will be three repeats of each of the following alignments and yes, the Horoscopes will be across the most pertinent factors for each sign!
*Mars square Lilith
*Mars opposite Pluto
*Mars trine the North Node
*Mars sextile Uranus
*Mars trine Saturn
Mars Out of Bounds:
September 7 to 18
January 1 to April 7
The most recent Mars Retrograde in Leo was from December 2009 until March 2010 and the most recent Mars Retrograde in Cancer was from November 2007 until Jan 2008, albeit only partially in Cancer as it backed into the later degrees of Gemini.
Image: Shusei Nagaoka – Misubishi
I mean yeah ofc it’s mars in Cancer for me, home. Without safety in the home mars is broken. Safety first. Find safe people. Be safe people.
This helped me swerve a DV situation with deftness and speed. I am not romantically involved with the man in question but we do live together and having experienced his excoriating attacks of awfulness (name calling, verbal abuse, monitoring, boundary violations, gaslighting, bullying, coercive control, shaming put downs, contemptuous sneering and reckless repurposing of sensitive material to establish dominance in territorial disputes. All very zero sum, win or lose, black and white thinking- rather sad and clearly mentally unwell. But the deal breaker for me was the inability to take emotional responsibility for any of the relational damage caused by this pattern and the impossibility for repair of relationship ruptured. The only resolution we had was when I took responsibility for everything and made an amend to him (a twelve step technique which can be so practical in these situations) that was alright for a while but eventually the relationship scorecard became too unbalanced and top heavy. So it broke. I let it fall. Watched it break around me.
I had requested the owner of the property put a lock on my bedroom door and also replaced the fire door closure he had removed. This was the last straw. He went nuclear ☢️ and found a replacement for me and delivered the news that I had thirty days to move out.
If I wanted to I could turn the ship around- but I don’t. I could find another room in the community. Plenty of people are looking for lodgers but why get sucked into a hotel California vortex of drama?
I stopped what I was doing when he delivered the news and immediately started looking for a place.
The fact I managed to stay a year is a testament to my appeasement skills. Before me the turnover was between one and six months and I was the fourth person to rent this room in a two year period.
So I’m moving into an all female flat with cats.
Let mars retrograde with him happen to someone else.
Emotional sobriety is priceless.
Hi Invicta, I am so sorry to hear all of this happened to you! What a terrible situation to be in with this person, who sounds so much like my infamous male neighbor. What especially strikes me is when you write ‘But the deal breaker for me was the inability to take emotional responsibility for any of the relational damage caused by this pattern and the impossibility for repair of relationship ruptured’. This is also the big disillusion I suffered with my neighbor and it never happened in my life before I met him – so it took me awhile to let it sink in. My husband once said sorry for something to our neighbor five years ago, and it only made this person ten times angrier than he was already and he still brings it up today as proof that we are a 100% wrong and that he was – and is – always right. Your flatmate seems like a person with narcissistic personality traits. You did the right thing by moving out and protecting yourself from further harm. I wish for that your new place may welcoming and warm! 🌟
Thank you Calcifer!
If I were in the business of diagnosing personality disorders, I would quite agree. Lols. Fortunately I don’t need to worry about him anymore or walk on eggshells and placate him. I’ve ordered the boxes, I’ve scoured the room offered ads and I’ve found something else. I’m pouring over lodger’s agreements now and figuring out how to format the document so I have agency and can proactively negotiate the kind of agreement I want moving forward.
There’s so much to organise now and I’m in the middle of an assignment for uni so the timing couldn’t be… well it could be worse, I mean at least it’s not mercury retrograde right?
I’m swerving before mars retrograde gets nasty and trying to reframe it as a net positive and an upgrade. The experience of being shunned by an entire gated community is a lot like being scapegoated by my family of origin. Very Lilith embodied yesterday as I walked past the fountain and through the gates and not a single person returned my friendly eye contact. I’ve done nothing wrong and I know that. I’m not a victim. My time here is done. Next adventure incoming.
Can I just confirm that the dates above- October 7th 2025 ought to read 24?
Asking for a Virgo friend
Best of luck with your move, Invicta! 🍀
May it all turn out to be for the best. Another astrologer I read says the shadow zone of Mars retrograde ’24 starts on October 6 and that’s what I remembered. So maybe you want to check.
❤️
don’t know why but mars in cancer seems to be my kind of mars. possibly because it’s trine natal moon in its fall so I guess there’s some kind of miraculous mutual reception power swap happening there.
I am drinking beer and it’s something I seldom do. It’s like cordial. I wonder if my mother hit the shandies while I was in the womb. that’s a thought for another day but it would certainly explain some things.
Mars rules beer by the way. I did a ritual with mars exalted a few years ago and realised that for me beer becomes a necessity when dancing with that energy. It’s kind of nice because I don’t drink it at any other time so it does actually feel sacred and appropriate.
SO that thing with don’t start a war when mars is retro, I’ve been experimenting with this for more than a decade. Putting it out there for fellow travellers that if you are in a slow burn contractual or intellectual scenario (these versus physical because I would never for a minute suggest anyone in physical danger read randoms on blogs and apply their hopsy logic) and would like to give whatever it is a nudge and just be done with it, bait them. bait them in the lead up, work the shadow… roll out the red carpet, bait them and let them declare war during the retro. Whatever it is, if they start it during the retro they will eventually lose, even better sometimes quickly. it is powerful and it works.
I loves me a retro. I love consciously engaging with, exploring and learning how to wield them. Mars is tricky but if it’s just a head game and there are no lives to lose why not experiment?
What does this mean for me, as natal Mars retro?
There is some more info here https://mysticmedusa.com/planets-in-astrology/what-do-retrogrades-in-astrology-mean/
but essentially, the zone of your chart activated by this Mars emphasis is still super-energized and the caveats apply but you may find that the in terms of assertion/defensive tactics, the whole thing is flipped?
I was also born with Mars Retro and researching the way these phases influence people who were born with it is totally on my list!
Mars out of bounds & my communication network glitched calls dropping in & out but service to find cause was excellent & personal for a corporation.
But it came at time calls not texts were needed as texting was working.
It caused a lot of stress which actually woke me up from winter slumber…so took a seat that the action station chair.
18 weeks in Leo, 23 weeks in cancer..what kind of overdue energetic oblique brawlers are going to be gestating?
is this an in utero prep for Sat and nep into primal Aries? Buckle up beauties…or buckle sideways, do you, but don’t forget snacks and the soundtracks.
Mars retrogrades always feel quite difficult but they certainly produce dramatic realisations and positive changes. It’s invaluable to know not to start a fight or take the bait. Such a brilliant skill to evade drama and strategically withdraw instead. And WATCH.
yas grl
Wooop wooop
TFW you heed the warnings and flag them up, avert danger and thrive on to better times. Levelling up and learning the lessons- my timing is perfect and I am fully supported by the universe.
Heya from way down under……always wondered ‘down’ under what exactly…the rest of the world?
Howzit with you all copacetic i trust. We Live so the living must be good.
Hey Pegs
All copacetic here thanks in the north despite challenges- we all have em don’t we?
Life is smoother with self awareness and applied astrology wisdom. I’m moving out of the match factory. 🏭 It’s someone else’s turn to be here.
Accepting the loss of the huge swimming pool and gym onsite, little French Bulldog and magical garden. Also the building itself and the community (east London) which became my home. Bittersweet in some ways. But I think life is about more than luxury surroundings and amenities. I can’t live for a pool. Can I? Lols.
Yeah it’s an interesting place to get to cognitively. I’m less willing to compromise feeling safe within my home and my nervous system for the trappings that signal luxury.
Moving out of a place I thought I would never leave after just a year because I value myself and my peace of mind more than external luxury.
The guy who seemed so nice at first very quickly showed his propensity for verbal abuse and coercive control. I’ve been placating and appeasing the scary angry tantrum throwing narc for dear life as it is a super power I developed as an infant. Just because I can doesn’t mean I should however and so I’m prioritising my sanity and moving to more modest lodgings. Seems like a theme doesn’t it?
Ahhh well.
I am continuing to learn about what safety feels like for me so maybe I’ll find the interior becoming more spacious and luxurious than ever soon.
Hi Invicta, I am reading your story on the eclipse in Libra in my Fourth house of home and family and it resonates with me so much! What is more important, luxury and beauty or truly feeling safe in more modest surroundings? I am still here in the small but beautiful wooden house which I built with 20 years of savings, three years ago. I have pretty garden, which I never truly enjoy except when watching it from my interior. I don’t feel at ease in it, because of my neighbor who is always watching and ready to stalk me and call me names. Meanwhile, he is stalking my husband – who is building another house next door – legally and via email. He will always find something new to complain about. The feeling of not being safe is familiar to me, as I grew up with an abusive stepfather. Your story is food for thought for me, Invicta. ‘Not living for a swimming pool’, I will keep it in mind 🙏
Wow Calcifer I’m so sorry to hear that. What a drag to have that guy as a neighbour. After you built your dream home and everything.
Of course he reminds you of your awful stepdad. Isn’t it always like this? It’s like the Truman show or something where the actors are literally playing roles and doing product placement sometimes.
It’s strangely comforting to know that these creeps show up no matter how we show up. I mean the story my inner critic has been running with lately is that I’m a moron for selling my property in Cape Town and that if I was a homeowner this would not be happening to me. But ofc it would. This stuff happens to everyone doesn’t it?
Truman show life. But I feel like with astrology and self awareness we can suffer with more purpose than without it. It accrues to something that becomes the gold right?
Like it’s in Libra in your fourth house. So it isn’t meaningless. It’s not just another pile of drek that randomly gets visited upon you.
There’s some healing behind the pain I imagine…..
For me it’s the tenth house and it’s followed a full moon in my fourth. So I do feel more capability and mental capacity coming online during this struggle to find home. That primal abandonment wound is so intense that it shatters everything else in my world. Without home I can’t have any success or creative accomplishment. I literally cannot serve the community if I don’t heal my inner child’s relationship ruptures.
I’ve vowed to become the loving parents I never had. It feels so hard but I’m certainly not going to get it from anyone else. I have to become the source of sustenance I didn’t get. There is no daddy warbucks. This is hard won knowledge and it seems so obvious to someone who wasn’t abused by their family, who wasn’t trafficked and gaslight and rejected by the people whose job it was to love, protect and nurture them.
Dear Invicta, yes, home and family and becoming your own home and family, it resonates so much. It is quite amazing that for you the eclipses were also in Four and Ten, but in reversed order. Regarding the issue of difficult persons from your past who show up in the guise of new persons, also yes, I do believe it works that way. One writer who is dear to me, calls these episodes ‘healing cycles’ as they put you in touch with old pain and offer you a way of healing (Robin Norwood in her book ‘Why this, why me, why now’). The process is anything but fun though, as it can feel so stuck and hopeless. I love what you wrote in your other post, though, ‘I am not a victim’. It is important to keep that it mind and that – in contrast to the helpless child we once were – we do have agency. As you have proved just now, Invicta!
❤️
Wow…the last time mars was retrograde in cancer, I got pregnant with my daughter and her dad started having symptoms from the terminal cancer that he died from June 2008. Hoping this brings some more closure for us.
Hello – Can anyone please let me know what Mars out of bounds means? This is occurring at a key time for me (major life changes abound) and I am already nervous, so am wondering about the significance.
I am Aries with Leo moon and extras, embarking on a journey to secure a new home ASAP in which I can heal, take stock and move forward in a healthier and hopefully easier way after major upheavals. Should I be concerned that Mars will be out of bounds while I am making long term financial and residential commitments?
Out of bounds means that the Moon or a planet is at such an extreme declination (North or South) that it’s outside of the standard ecliptic path – it makes the expression of that phenom more potent and unpredictable.
And no Mars out of bounds is not a problem as such – if you’re dealing with volatile Mars people, they could be more problematic than anticipated but really, it’s an amped up Mars – you’re a Mars-ruled Aries – and this heightens courage, impetus and assertive chutzpah!
When yes all the action initiated post Merc RX WAS more problematic…but unexpected dollars came in & it wiped out a debt. Dislike debt…. it’s a rein in the way of freedom.
Oh indeed yes. One of those shiny traps we get hooked on that ends up being heavier over time. Glad you got free
is there any particular significance for this phase regarding men /relationships (of any kind) with men, if we work with the man/mars symbolism?
reply to my own so as not to hog the top level comments. realised in the last few days that even if a prospective romance interest makes it through the Venus in Aries challenge and the cap moon vetting process, he must then also contend with psyche in virgo. between her and pisces they x-ray remaining details, which remain as active agenda items until such time, etc.
hahaha @Sam can we swap notes on Aries Venus cap moon life?
psyches in scorp for me. when I say it’s ages to arrive at my own surface, I mean it.
yes please.
Sam keep it simple you know men get boggled easily….
Oooof…thanks for the heads up! I have Crab ascendant, 10 degrees. I’m gonna have to read this again and try to figure out what the mars retrograde will mean for me. Mars in cancer will trine my natal mars at 17 Pisces, which is also exact conjunct my midheaven. I can be pretty Martian in general. I’m always trying to dial myself down with that, I hope I can find a way to channel it. I’ve been doing a lot of physical activity and exercise as a way to work out all my energy and aggression. I’m finding life unpleasant these past several years and I’m pissed off about it. Still, sending good tidings to all here….. cheers from California!
physical activity is a GREAT way to activate / exercise mars energy. Especially if it’s goal oriented! mars in water signs, I always love to think of in terms of levelling up in yoga, pilates, intensive mediation retreats, spiritually aligned bodywork, climbing mountains! you get the drift… especially to help transform pissed-off-ness
surfing! ✨🌊
My dream…..watching surfing is like a virtual reality to me..like am on the wave with them.
Before i was a girl was a dolphin.
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Before I was a girl I was a dolphin
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Thanks for that Sam. I’ve got Mercury, Venus (conjunct Jupiter in Leo) and Ceres in Kataka.
Also Gemini Sun in the fourth house
mystic often talks about psychometry and Cancerians… surely with those placements (including gem sun in sensitive 4th house) that’s in your skill set Wish . and Jupiter in Leo just sounds so lovely (mine’s in Taurus. 🐖)
Yes Psychometry is a thing for me. But I am of an age where I am sick of other people’s stuff. Pisces Rising needs more protection. I’m pissed off today as I lost my reading glasses and typing this half blind.
I love this idea of yoga being good for water Mars! It’s true that Mars is great for physical activity and exercise regimens. I love the Mars retrograde for strategic redefinition of self assertion tactics
bang on!
just moved to new country and town is oceanside, surrounded by mountains, I’m study body work and science and deepening my yogic self practice for the next year.
Ooooh that sounds exciting!
Where are you?
Oh, this is interesting! Mars retro in Aries and Gemini were both long struggles for me, but I bet I’ll do better with Cancer/Leo (3rd and 4th house mostly). My natal Mars is in Libra and I’m not sure I’ve ever quite paid enough attention to that. It can make me too much of a pleaser and not great at setting boundaries. But I’m all about building self-respect these days (the world sure isn’t doing that for me).
It’ll conjunct my Mars and then Ascendant, and then conjunct both twice more by mid next year. Mars retrograde reading would be good!
Will be close by to my ascendant. I’m sure this will be interesting!
Hey Mystic,
Are you doing personal readings?
This one will be very important for me I guess. I am born with an out of bounds Mars conjunct midheaven as tightest conjunction in my chart and will have my Mars return in this out of bounds phase in September. In addition my Jupiter and Sun is in the retro space. I need to change my professional career and feel in fight mode since a couple of weeks already. (Against the state, notaries and lawyers, health system and last but not least my sis 🙈🤷♀️)
I need a strategy 😂 😉😇
Cancer and Leo rising
my mars return…
OMFG
Game on
Tripile Canceriian + triple Leo, my sun and mars in there to boot, my south node is in there too (Ugh). Looks likes its all going to happin my my first house starting on my sun and ending on my Mars….
Suprise suprise my work and major hobby cross both those professional arenas, so this is going to be interesting.
Bang on spring too – energetically propulsive and growth and expansion protential huge (also anger, frustration and rage in the -ve).
Thanks for sharing this iinfor